Protective Case for Portable Electronic Device

ABSTRACT

A protective case for a portable electronic device includes a bottom plate, a frame, and a glass substrate. The bottom plate has at least one hole and a flange around a periphery thereof. The frame is connected to the bottom plate. The frame has at least one through hole. An inner peripheral edge of the frame is provided with an engaging groove. The flange is engaged in the engaging groove. The frame cooperates with the bottom plate to form an accommodation space for accommodating a portable electronic device. A side of the bottom plate, opposite to the accommodation space, cooperates with the frame to form an accommodation trough. The glass substrate corresponds in shape to the accommodation trough. An adhesive layer is provided between the bottom plate and the glass substrate. The glass substrate is adhesively disposed in the accommodation trough.

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as itappears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files orrecords, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a protective case for a 3C product, andmore particularly to a protective case for a portable electronic device,such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer or a personal digitalassistant for protecting the portable electronic device from beingscraped.

Description of Related Arts

Portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, or personaldigital processing devices (PDA), have become increasingly popular andare almost inseparable from our daily life. Therefore, people pay moreattention to the protection requirements for such portable electronicdevices. The aforesaid portable electronic devices, a mobile phone takenas an example, may be damaged inevitably during use. For example, themobile phone may crack due to falling or be scraped. In order to preventthe mobile phone from being damaged, the mobile phone is covered with aprotective case 10, as shown in FIG. 1, to protect the appearance of themobile phone from being damaged. The protective case is formed of a softelastomeric material by molding, such as thermoplastic polyurethanes(TPU), polyurethane (PU), or silicone-containing materials. Theprotective case is to cover the periphery and the back of the mobilephone and the touch screen of the mobile phone is exposed, so that theuser may operate the mobile phone without removing the protective case.The protective case is able to withstand the impact and protect themobile phone.

However, due to the soft material of the protective case, when themobile phone is placed on a table or a hard surface, it is easy toscrape the protective case. The back 11 of the protective case may havea lot of scratches 12. Although the scratches 12 don't affect thefunctionality of the protective case, the overall appearance is notpleasing to the eyes. Besides, the scratches 12 are easy to accumulatedirt and bacteria, so it is necessary to improve the existing protectivecase. Accordingly, the inventor of the present invention has devotedhimself based on his many years of practical experiences to solve theseproblems.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In view of the aforesaid shortcomings, the primary object of the presentinvention is to provide a protective case for a portable electronicdevice. The main technology and the purpose of the present invention isthat the back of the protective case is provided with a glass substrate.The glass substrate itself has a high hardness and scratch resistance toenhance wear resistance and scratch resistance of the protective case.Moreover, the surface of the glass substrate is smooth and translucent,thereby enhancing the quality of the protective case and improving theappearance.

According to the aforesaid object of the present invention, a protectivecase for a portable electronic device is provided. The protective casecomprises a bottom plate, a frame, and a glass substrate. The bottomplate has at least one hole. The frame is connected to the bottom plate.The frame has at least one through hole. The frame cooperates with thebottom plate to form an accommodation space. A side of the bottom plate,opposite to the accommodation space, cooperates with the frame to forman accommodation trough. The glass substrate corresponds in shape to theaccommodation trough. An adhesive layer is provided between the bottomplate and the glass substrate. The glass substrate is adhesivelydisposed in the accommodation trough.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the bottom plate is made of ahard material and has a flange around a periphery thereof; the frame ismade of a soft material, an inner peripheral edge of the frame isprovided with an engaging groove, and the flange is engaged in theengaging groove.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the glass substrate has atleast one perforation corresponding to the hole.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the adhesive layer is one ofa liquid optical clear adhesive and a silicone rubber.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the glass substrate has aheight not beyond a depth of the accommodation trough after beingattached.

In an embodiment of the present invention, four corners of the frame areprovided with raised ribs adjacent to the accommodation trough.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the glass substrate isprovided with a color.

In an embodiment of the present invention, an adhesive surface of theglass substrate is printed with a pattern, a design, or a character.

Through the above structure, the glass substrate can increase thescratch resistance of the back of the protective case, and may beprovided with a color, a pattern or a character to enhance the qualityof the protective case.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional protective case;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a glass substrate provided with a patternof the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the present invention provided with apattern.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way ofexample only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, the present invention discloses aprotective case 20 for a portable electronic device. The protective case20 comprises a bottom plate 21, a frame 24, and a glass substrate 30.

The bottom plate 21 is a hard flat plate for covering the back of theportable electronic device. The bottom plate 21 has at least one hole 22corresponding to at least one lens of the portable electronic device anda flange 23 around its periphery.

The frame 24 is a flexible frame and is connected to the bottom plate 21for covering the periphery of the portable electronic device. The frame24 has at least one through hole 25 corresponding to at least one portof the portable electronic device. The inner peripheral edge of theframe 24 is provided with an engaging groove 26. The flange 23 isengaged in the engaging groove 26. The frame 24 cooperates with thebottom plate 21 to form an accommodation space 27 for receiving theportable electronic device. A side of the bottom plate 21, opposite tothe accommodation space 27, cooperates with the frame 24 to form anaccommodation trough 28. Four corners of the frame 24 are provided withraised ribs 241 adjacent to the accommodation trough 28.

The glass substrate 30 corresponds in shape to the accommodation trough28. The glass substrate 30 has at least one first perforation 31corresponding to the hole 21. An adhesive layer 32 is provided betweenthe bottom plate 21 and the glass substrate 30, such that the glasssubstrate 30 is adhesively disposed in the accommodation trough 28. Theglass substrate 30 may increase the scratch resistance of the back ofthe protective case 20, and may be provided with a color, a pattern or acharacter to enhance the quality of the protective case 20.

The assembly, function and details of the aforesaid embodiment aredescribed below. As shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, the bottom plate 21 ofthe protective case 20 is made of a hard material which is lessdeformable, for example, polycarbonate (PC), poly ethylene terephthalate(PET), etc., but not limited thereto. The frame 24 of the protectivecase 20 is made of a soft elastic material, such as thermoplasticpolyurethane (TPU), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE),polypropylene (PP), etc., but not limited thereto, so that theprotective case 20 provides a shockproof effect. For the camera lens,the logo, the microphone, or the port of the portable electronic deviceto be exposed, not covered by the protective case 20, the hole 22 of thebottom plate 21 corresponds in position to the camera lens, logo orspecific pattern of the electronic device. The through hole 25 of theframe 24 may correspond in position to the position of the human-machineor transmission interface of the portable electronic device, such as amicrophone, a port, a power switch, and a volume key. The glasssubstrate 30 may be made of tampered glass to improve the hardness andscratch resistance effectively and to prolong the service life of theglass substrate 30. To assemble the present invention, the flange 23 ofthe bottom plate 21 is first engaged with the engaging groove 26 of theframe 24. Preferably, the bottom plate 21 is placed in a mold, and theframe 24 is formed by injection molding to wrap the flange 23 of thebottom plate 21 and further to form the accommodation space 27 and theaccommodation trough 28. One side surface of the glass substrate 30 iscoated with the adhesive layer 32 and disposed in the accommodationtrough 28 and then adhered to the bottom plate 21. Preferably, theadhesive layer 32 is a viscous and transparent liquid optical clearadhesive, but not limited thereto, so that the glass substrate 30 isfirmly bonded without separation and has good light transmittance.Preferably, the adhesive layer 32 is a silicone rubber layer that isreleasable, but not limited thereto, so that the glass substrate 30 canbe repeatedly adhered to or separated from the bottom plate 21, and theglass substrate 30 can be replaced with ease to increase its utility.The bottom plate 21 is made of a hard material and is not easilydeformable and is excellent in flatness, so it can be attached to theglass substrate 30 tightly. It is to be noted that the surface of theglass substrate 30 is not beyond the accommodation trough 28. That is,the height of the glass substrate 30 does not exceed the depth of theaccommodation trough 28 after being attached, so that the edge of theglass substrate 30 can be protected from direct impact by the protectivecase 20. In other words, the raised ribs 241 at the four corners of theframe 24 first withstand the impact, which can achieve the effect ofcushioning and avoid direct impact on the glass substrate 30 if theprotective case 20 is accidentally dropped on the ground or accidentallycollided.

It is to be noted that, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the glass substrate30 may be provided with a color. An adhesive surface of the glasssubstrate 30 may be printed with a pattern, a design, a character, andso on (as shown in FIG. 5), but not limited thereto. Thereby, theprotective case 20 is more beautiful and its quality is improved. Theuser can change the pattern, the design or the character of the glasssubstrate 30 as desired. (Because the adhesive layer 32 is a siliconerubber layer that is releasable, it can be repeatedly pasted andreplaced.) The present invention is very practical.

Although particular embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed in detail for purposes of illustration, various modificationsand enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not tobe limited except as by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A protective case for a portable electronicdevice, comprising: a bottom plate, having at least one hole; a frame,connected to the bottom plate, the frame having at least one throughhole; the frame cooperating with the bottom plate to form anaccommodation space, a side of the bottom plate, opposite to theaccommodation space, cooperating with the frame to form an accommodationtrough; and a glass substrate, corresponding in shape to theaccommodation trough; a adhesive layer being provided between the bottomplate and the glass substrate, the glass substrate being adhesivelydisposed in the accommodation trough.
 2. The protective case as claimedin claim 1, wherein the bottom plate is made of a hard material and hasa flange around a periphery thereof; the frame is made of a softmaterial, an inner peripheral edge of the frame is provided with anengaging groove, and the flange is engaged in the engaging groove. 3.The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the glass substratehas at least one perforation corresponding to the hole.
 4. Theprotective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adhesive layer is oneof a liquid optical clear adhesive and a silicone rubber.
 5. Theprotective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the glass substrate has aheight not beyond a depth of the accommodation trough after beingattached.
 6. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein fourcorners of the frame are provided with raised ribs adjacent to theaccommodation trough.
 7. The protective case as claimed in claim 1,wherein the glass substrate is provided with a color.
 8. The protectivecase as claimed in claim 1, wherein an adhesive surface of the glasssubstrate is printed with a pattern, a design, or a character.